One last wish
by vivigirl72000
Summary: Aeris' soul refuses to leave the material world and Seph comes to visit her. AeriSeph.


  Aeris' ghostly figure hovered above the edge of the sparkling lake and wept liquid pearl tears as the light lit up her pale face. Cloud and the others had gone, but Aeris' soul had not. She was hovering between life and death, her spirit in a personal purgatory. She's tried to leave the lake and its surroundings but to no avail. The crystal surroundings were her jail and only the planet held the key to her freedom, but refused to unlock the door. Why haven't I gone yet? The question tormented her mercilessly through out the day and night. By now she should have returned to the lifestream, but she stayed attached to the mortal realm. The irony and cruelty was too much for her, when President Shinra had died she had felt is soul returning back to the Planet and yet she who had given up her life, dreams, hopes and wishes for the ungrateful thing was doomed to this fate. 

 If Aeris knew this was going to happen just _perhaps _she would not have been so glad to give her life up for the Planet. In those last fateful moments as she heard the sword slice through the air and had just finished praying, her saving mantra was that she would finally be able to return to the Promised Land and be reunited with the rest of the Cetra. That the Planet's only hope was that she finished the prayer and if she had jumped out of way into Cloud's arms, the prayer would fail. She knew that a normal human being would, but she was not normal. As the last Cetra it was her duty to protect the Planet at all costs but still, she would have loved company.

 And more often than not she would start thinking of her romantic life, how it never even managed to bloom. Zack must have given up on her or found somebody better, Cloud… Cloud had…no has Tifa. No chance to have children, a family, anything like that. And after everything is over, what then? While they are living the life I've wished for all my life, I'll be here, weeping. Eventually I'll be forgotten, though I made the biggest sacrifice of them all.

 Sephiroth watched the party leave the City of Ancients. He had been waiting for them to leave for a while now, but they had finally left. Though it seemed like a lifetime, it could have only been a day or so. He smiled a slow smirk; it was too long ago to remember the last time his smile had been out of pure happiness. The crystal city waited below and it was time to leave, after all he wouldn't have liked to keep the puppet waiting at the crater. Dear me no.

 Sephiroth asked himself what he was doing here. Wasting valuable time hunting down the ghost of a stupid flower girl. Still, being such a being of supreme power time was simply a bother that had to be dealt with, not a major obstacle in his path to glory. Truth be told, he wanted to find out more about the one frail, pathetic little being that could stop him. When he saw her praying at the fateful altar he had been surprised that such an ordinary figure could hold the key to destroying his and Mother's plans, surprised that her power could even surpass his own. And for a few moments he had felt awe that such power had not been corrupted for so long before the final blow was administered and he was again sure of his own superiority.

 He may still be sure of it now, but he needed to see the girl. He had sensed that her spirit didn't quite return to the lifestream and was still waiting at her deathbed. Whether for him or the puppet was yet to be told, either way she was going to see him first. He was also interested in her life, whether she to had been betrayed by the foul race that populated the Planet. But if she had, _why was she fighting with them_?  

 Aeris had tried to fade away once again, floating into the water and trying to disperse of all physical needs and return to the Planet but as usual she failed miserably. With all the conflicting struggles and thought polluting her mind how could she ever just let go? It's all in your head, she told herself. The key out of this place is to overcome your earthly desires and no longer yearn to live again. Only when you are truly ready will you be able to go from here, this cursed place. The beauty of the gentle light and lake had been lost to Aeris long ago; this was a prison and she was the prisoner. 

  Footsteps interrupted Aeris from her efforts, shattering the calm and peace in her mind momentarily. The burst of happiness she felt had come so fast she sped out of the water faster than she had moved when she was still alive. And who to come visit? _Him!_ Aeris knew that when alive she would have been shockingly red from a mixture of anger and embarrassment. She resisted the urge to slap him with wet salmon like a fish -monger (for one thing she no salmon at hand) and instead gave him her worst stare (which was surprisingly withering considering she was the Planet's martyr) 

" And what are you doing here _you_ doing _here_? The Ancients certainly don't want you to enter their holy place." She tried to remain dignified, but it was hard when part of her desperately wanted him to stay and keep her company. She stuck her chin out it the attempt to out-authorise him but failed miserably, especially as it was hard trying to seem more powerful than the most deadly human on the Planet with an ego to match.

 He raised his eyebrows delicately and flicked his much too lustrous hair back. " I don't think they'll mind too much in the lifestream." Aeris' mood steadily got worse, her eye started twitching at her fists were clenched. She knew he was arrogant, he thought he was God for crying out loud, but this was too much! First he kills her and then returns to torment her.

 " Please leave me here. I can't do any harm now can I?" Her voice faltered on the last few words but she was determined to keep hold ground. He still stood at the entrance of her cell but could easily step in. 

 " I just wanted to see how the Planet rewards its faithful." The aggravating smirk remained plastered to his face and his eyes shone with delight as her expense. " Can you really be happy shut in here? But my poor little prisoner," at this Aeris opened her mouth to protest bitterly but he held his hand to protest. " When the time comes you will be free from this torment and will live again as part of me." At this he calmly walked forward leaving a shocked Aeris standing near the entrance, her mouth open like a goldfish. Unbelievable. She'd always thought herself a kind, patient person but he was so bloody arrogant. Before she'd always felt sorry for him, always thought that there was a kind, sensitive half-decent person underneath the evil megalomaniac façade.

 Now she was sure there most definitely was not.   

 Angry and flustered she walked after him. "And what makes you think you're going to succeed? I'm sorry but in these type of situations sane people usually get the upper hand." Aeris wasn't quite sure Sephiroth was completely insane, just a little manipulated, miss-understood etc. But it made a valid point and anyway he was pissing her off.

 Sephiroth laughed softly and looked down at her. " And the leader of AVALANCHE is a normal healthy sane person? Please carry on; this is providing comic relief from the usual stress of my plans. Especially knowing that you gave your life up for nothing. Holy will not succeed and you will be trapped here until I deliver you from your little hell."

 Aeris mumbled her protests quietly and without conviction.  Sephiroth drew nearer to her, so close she could feel the gossamer strands of silver hanging near his face. " You do believe it don't you. Maybe you should think about changing sides, if it wasn't too late." Aeris abruptly pushed him away but he caught hold of her again and looked deeply into her eyes. " Strange. Strange how I don't see beauty until it is just out of reach." His hand tried to stroke her hair but it dispersed like smoke on his touch. 

 She looked up surprised. "You find me beautiful? Like this?" She felt unexpected sympathy for him, realising he to was had duty that stopped him from enjoying life like her. Jenova and the Planet were fighting and her and Sephiroth were pulled in, willing or not. He looked into her eyes but she averted his gaze, willing or not he was still the enemy.

 " Just once," he continued. " Can't you forget everything and look at me?"

 " I'm sorry." Aeris tried to meet his eyes. " But there's too much to forget." She couldn't forget what Cloud had told her and what he was planning to do to the Planet but she could remember the childhood dreams she had of him. Dreams she had kept hidden from the others, even herself once she found out the monster he was.

 He approached her and she backed away until she reached the waters edge. The ghostly boots on her feet didn't soak and her limbs didn't feel the icy cold. This was too late; everything was too late. Even being near him she felt an attraction so strong it almost killed her. He still annoyed the hell out of her, so whether it was physical or spiritual she did not know.

 After all they were only human. Well, more or less.

 He moved loser to her, his lithe body like that of a cat. Aeris felt soft and vulnerable in front of him. She knew this was wrong, sick, weird, and stupid… But for once she didn't care so much. Her life was over, her afterlife an endless torture. There was no more she could do to help anybody, did it matter who was on which side or not? But what would the others say? What would Cloud say? He would feel so upset that she could feel such emotion for the one who ruined his life and ended her own. Although Aeris felt so strongly, she was loyal to the Planet and her friends. She could not pretend she didn't care when she did so much. She loved Cloud, loved the Planet and nature. But this was different.

 She waded out into the water, careful to avoid the place where her body had been laid. Sephiroth kept following her, his eyes intent on her pale form. He must have been cold, but he didn't show that he cared otherwise. As he came closer to her she knew she should have moved away from him but stayed as he surveyed her. Every beat of her heart seemed to hurt her ribcage, every time she met his eyes she wanted to run away. The little voice in her head kept repeating to her _THIS IS STUPID THIS IS STUPID YOU ARE BEING STUPID_, but she still couldn't will herself to move away from him. He leant forward to kiss her, so close she could see the slits in his eyes and almost touch his smooth cheeks. Just that one moment of pleasure would uplift her melancholy soul.

 He leant forward to kiss her and she could feel the gossamer strands of silver hair close to her cheek, she was flesh and blood again. And so she let herself go and for that one night she wasn't Aeris, martyr of the Planet and he wasn't Sephiroth, puppet of Jenova but two human beings. That one night she felt she had finally lived her life the way she wanted to have and didn't care that what she was doing was wrong. It was like a tidal wave of emotions had overcome her and all she could do was get washed away somewhere safer…

 Tears trickled down her cheeks. She felt overburdened with emotions, conflicting desires and hopes and now they had all spilled out leaving her feel drained and empty. All her dreams, hopes and wishes suddenly felt so insignificant and she felt surprised that she had almost shared it with the one that made it impossible for them to come true. But she didn't care.

 Aeris looked down at the sleeping man who had been in her mind Death for so long. Like this he seemed so insecure, the armour of apathy Jenova had him wearing had been taken off. She touched him briefly before putting on her clothes and walking away into the water. She didn't say goodbye or wake him up; just gave one last look, one wistful sigh too quiet for him to hear and bade farewell to the material world knowing that if her friends did defeat him she would welcome him into the Lifestream.

     



End file.
